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Manchester United advanced into the next round of the Europa League after defeating Real Betis 0:1. Erik ten Hag was happy with his team's performance, and especially with the goal of Marcus Rashford, who is in great shape this season.
Before that, the Englishman had two good chances that he didn't use, but the great goal he scored was enough for the fans and the coach to forget about it. "The team was creating some chances," Ten Hag said, as quoted by manchestereveningnews.com "Rashy had some chances before.
And he missed some but he kept his belief, he kept trying and got his reward. All good strikers know that not every chance you will get a goal but at this level, you don’t create five or six chances in a game so one of the two has to be in.
It tells you something about the team’s performance. It tells you something about him. If he keeps the focus and makes sure he has the energy, the way, and the way he has to play in that system and style, he will get in scoring positions and then it’s about him - he has the ability to finish."
Erik ten Hag on his team
Erik ten Hag was not satisfied with the pressure of the home team at the start of the match.
He knew Betis would go for the first goal, but United's defense was good in many moments, and even when they weren't, David de Gea saved them. "Yes very pleased. I know in the start of the game it can be very difficult because they were going to try, and try to get quickly to 1-0 but we don’t allow them.
That is what we did. We needed the first goal. First half, we had some chances and we allowed them to get some counter-attacks, so we had to be a little bit more calm on the ball and we did that in the second half. Don’t light up the stadium.
The first thing we saw was some noise at the start of the match because we allowed them some transition moments, so once you score the first goal the game is gone, and they don’t have the belief anymore. You have to manage that.
That is another step we made in mentality, a winning attitude, to deal with that and we have performed three teems quite well in Spain."